Adjustable fastener



. May 12, 1942.

R. J. ROSEMAN ADJUSTABLE FASTENER Filed NOV. 19, 1940 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Patented May 12, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ADJUSTABLE FASTENER Richard J. Roseman, Newark, N. J.

Application November 19, 1940, Serial No. 366,203

3 Claims.

This invention relates to fasteners of the type which include a plurality of fastener elements such as bars, wire eyes, eyelets and the like that are attached to one of two parts to be fastened together, and a, hook or the like to be connected to the other of said parts to cooperate selectively with any one of said bars, wire eyes or the like, whereby said parts, which may be for example two portions of a garment or an article, can be adjustably fastened together.

One object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved fastener of this general character which shallbe thin, at and flexible so that there shall be a minimum of bulk and rigidity, which shall be devoid of protuberances that vmight cause discomfort to the wearer of a garment that embodies the fastener, and which at the same time shall be strong and durable.

A further object is to provide in such a fas-A tener a novel and improved construction and combination of fastener elements wherein each element shall comprise a plurality of bars, each of which shall be integrally and rigidly connected at each end to at least one other bar and said elements shall be secured in spaced relation on the corresponding portion of a garment, article or the like, whereby the fastener shall be both strong and flexible.

Another object is to provide a fastener of this character wherein each fastener element shall comprise a single piece of rigid sheet material such as metal, having an opening therethrough to form a pair of integrally connected bars with said bars and the portions connecting them together disposed in parallel planes, and said element shall be secured, as by stitches, to the corresponding portion of a garment, article or the like flatwise in such a manner that both edges of each of said bars shall be engageable selectively with a complementary hook element, whereby a plurality of said elements disposed in spaced relation on a portion of a garment or the like, shall provide a flat, thin, flexible, strong fastener with a maximum number of bars ina given linear distance and with a minimum of material.

Other objects are to provide an adjustable fastener of the character described which shall be simple and inexpensive in construction and which can be easily and rapidly manufactured in continuous strips or tapes on automatic machines; and to obtain other advantages and results that will be brought out by the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is a fragmentary top plan view of an adjustable fastener embodying my invention.

Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view I taken on the line 2--2 of Figure 1.l

. Figure 3 is a fragmentary top plan view of the body section of the fastener.

Figure 4 is an enlarged transverse vertical sectional view on the line 4-4 of Figure l.

Figure 5 is a similar view showing a modification of the invention.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of one of the fastener elements mounted on the body section of the fastener, and

Figure 7 is a detached perspective view of a modified form of the fastener element.

In its broadest aspects, my fastener comprises two sections A and B, one of which includes a plurality of fastener elements C having bars with which selectively cooperate the other section B of the fastener which is in the form of a hook. While the invention contemplates the application of the fastener elements C and the hook B, directly to two parts to be connected, for example two portions of .a garment or article, the invention more particularly is directed to a fastener wherein the fastener elements are connected to a tape or strip which may be applied to a portion of a garment or article, and the hook B is connected to a tape or the like which may bel connected to the other portion of the garment or article.

More specifically describing the invention, the part A of the fastener includes a body strip I of suitable material, for example exible fabric, that preferably has its edge portions folded inwardly as at 2 to form two superposed plies of fabric. Each fastener element C is shown as comprising two rigid bars 3 that are integrally rigidly connected to each other; and more particularly each fastener consists of a single piece of rigid sheet material having an opening 4 therethrough which forms the bars 3 and connecting portions 5 that rigidly and integrally connect the bars at their ends. Preferably the openings 4 are elongate rectangular in plan so that the bars 3 are elongate rectangular in cross-section and disposed edge to edge in approximately parallel relation to each other.

A plurality of the fastener elements Care se- 1 l arranged in a row, and two lines of stitches I extend longitudinally of the body section I with certain of the stitches of each line passing through the apertures 6 of one of the fastener elements, whereby said certain stitches traverse portions of the fastener elements and attach the fastener elements securely to the body strip. Preferably each line of stitches is continuous and a plurality of tacking stitches 'III are formed at each corner of each fastener element, to increase the security of the attachment of the elements to the strip I.

Preferably the body strip l is secured within a cover strip l that is formed of a single piece of ilexible material such as fabric and has its edge portions folded inwardly over the portions 5 of the fastener elements as at 9. A continuous line of stitches I runs longitudinally of each inturned portion 9 with certain of the stitches trav-r ersing the respective bars 3 of the fastener elements and penetrating both the inturned portion 9 and the main portion of the cover strip 8 as.

well as. the body strip I.

If desired, the lines of stitches I may also penetrate the main portion of the cover ystrip 9 as shown in Figure 5 of the drawing. When this is done, the body strip I is secured to the cover strip 8 at the same time that the fastener elements are secured to the body strip, in distinction to the form of the invention shown in Figures 1 to 4 where the fastener elements are first secured to the body strip, after which the body strip is secured to the cover strip.

The hook B is shown as attached to the end of a tape II, and the hook may selectively engage any of the bars 3, the bill of the hook being slipped between ,the bar and the body strip I as shown in Figure 2.

It will be observed that both edges of each bar are exposed for engagementwith the hook, so that the hook may be connected to the bars from either of opposite directions, depending upon the manner in which it is desired to connect the two parts of the garment or article.

With this construction, it will be observed that each bar 3 is rigidly connected to one other bar by the portions 5 of the fastener elements so that each bar is held in rigid relation to the other bar, while the fastener elements C are connected to each other only by the body strip I or other part on which the fastener elements are mounted. Also, the two bars of each fastener element constitute a unit and are secured to the strip by the same stitches, so that the forces applied by the hook B to each bar are inv effect transmitted to and partially sustained by another bar. Accordingly. the bars are rigid and rmly attached to the strip so that the fastener is strong and durable, but at the same time is highly flexible. The fastener elements being fiat and being secured to the body strip or other part by stitches, the fastener is thin and at, has a minimum of bulk, is devoid of protuberances that might cause discomfort to the wearer of the garment that embodies the fastener, and at the same time the fastener is strong and durable.

It will also be observed that my construction and combination of fastener elements provides at the same time a maximum of bars in a given linear distance with a minimum of material, and a maximum of resistance to twisting of the fastener elements on the flexible strip and pulling of the fastener elements away from the strip, without appreciable impairment of flexibility of the strip. Furthermore, the fastener elements can be easily and quickly secured on the body strip or other part in one continuous sewing operation by automatic machines so that the fastener can be inexpensively manufactured.

Where the fastener section A is made in tape form. preferably several of the fastener elements C will be spaced apart distances equal to the spacing of the bars 3 of the individual fastener elements for a portion of the length of the tape, say two or two and Aone-half inches, and then two or more of the fastener elements may be omitted, followed by several equi-distantly spaced fastener elements, and so on. Such a structure makes it possible for the user of the fastener to sever the strip into sections at the points D between the series of equi-distantly spaced fastener elements and also provides an adequate amount of the tape for attaching the sections of the tape to a garment or article The fastener elements may be of many different forms. for example as shown in Figure '7. In Figure 7 the bars I2 are offset from the general plane of the sheet of material of which the fastener element is formed so as to provide more clearance for the bill of the hook beneath the bars.

I am aware that fasteners of this general type are old, for example as disclosed in Patents Nos. 2,143,309, 1,146,878 and 1,043,866 and I do not wish to be understood as attempting to claim such structures. However it will be understood -by those skilled in the art that many modifications and changes may be made in the details of structure of my fastener elements and in the manner of securing the fastener elements to a garment or article or tape, without departing Vfrom the spirit or scope of the invention.

piece in a row and adjacent fastener elements being spaced from each other a distance approximately equal to the distance between the bars of each element, and two lines of stitches extending longitudinally of said row and penetrating said body piece with certain of the stitches traversing certain of said bars to secure said fastener elements on said body piece, whereby a hook'may cooperate selectively with any of said bars.

2. An adjustable fastener part comprising a body piece of iiexible material, a plurality of fastener elements each comprising a substantially flat piece of rigid sheet material having an opening therethrough forming two rigid spaced bars disposed in edge-to-edge relation to each other and rigid end portions integrally connecting said bars and having spaced apertures, said fastener elements being arranged flatwise on said body piece in a row with adjacent fastener elements spaced from each other a distance approximately equal to the distance between the bars of each element, and two parallel lines of stitches penetrating said body piece and each having certain stitches passing through certain of said apertures to secure said fastener elements on said body piece, whereby a hook may cooperate selectively with any of said bars.

3. An adjustable fastener part comprising a body strip of flexible material, a plurality of ing a main portion underlying said body strip and its longitudinal edge portions folded inwardly over the ends of said fastener elements to leave 10 said apertures.

portions o! said bars exposed between said longitudinal edge portions, two parallel continuous lines oi.' stitches extending longitudinally or said strips and penetrating said longitudinal edge portions, said main portion and said body strip, certain of said stitches traversing said bars of the fastener elements, and two other parallel lines of stitches penetrating at least said body strip with certain stitches passing through certain of RICHARD' J. ROSEMAN. 

